UK Increased
deployment of Tasers in London "should not have to involve
politicians"26.10.2013The chairman of the Metropolitan
Police Federation, John Tully, has said that "the deployment
of Taser should be an operational consideration for chiefs -
and that the decision should not have to involve politicians,"
according to a report in the magazine Police Oracle. [1]

His comments come a week
after the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee issued
a report, 'Arming
the Met: The deployment of less-lethal weapons in London'
(pdf), that criticised the decision taken by the Metropolitan
Police to vastly expand the number of police officers trained
to use Tasers, and the number of Tasers available, which is due
to increase from 800 to more than 6,500. [2]

The Police and Crime Committee
argue in their report that the decision to increase Taser deployment
taken by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Mayor's
Office for Police and Crime took place "through private
conversations and behind closed doors" and "did not
allow Londoners an opportunity to challenge the MPS's reasoning
or determine how successfully Taser had been used in the past."

Tully has defended the
process, saying: "I disagree that the Met Commissioner should
have to refer (to London Assembly members) if it is operationally
prudent to do so, although I agree we must take the public with
us."

He did not make clear
how the police could "take the public" with them if
they are not informed of proposals in the first place. So far
the police's justifications have relied upon stories of the violence
sometimes faced by police officers.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Bernard Hogan-Howe has said that his initial decision to expand
the use of Tasers came "following a series of incidents
in which officers sustained serious injury while attempting to
subdue suspects," [3] including a situation in which four
officers "were seriously injured by a knifeman." [4]

Tully told Police Oracle
that "We had one officer at this year's Police Bravery Awards
who suffered horrific injuries while he was dealing with a knifeman
- this is a situation in which we can find ourselves."

However, he did not mention
the Taser-related injuries and deaths inflicted upon members
of the public that have come with the increased use of the weapons.
Just this week two police officers from Merseyside constabulary
were dismissed after the Independent Police Complaints Commission
"upheld two complaint appeals from a man who was wrongly
arrested and subjected to five unjustified rounds of Taser in
2009." [5]

In July "fresh concerns
[were] raised over the safety of Tasers following the death of
an ice cream man who was stunned while being restrained by police,"
the seventh person in ten years to die after being Tasered. [6]

In April a man died "after
suffering horrific burns in an incident when he was 'Tasered'
by a police officer while doused in a flammable liquid."
[7]

The London Assembly's
report notes:

"[C]oncerns that
the rapid growth in Taser use nationally is evidence of its increasing
use in situations where it may not have been appropriate. Recent
released data from the Home Office shows that the number of Taser
deployments grew by 113% between 2009 and 2010, and by 18% between
2010 and 2011."

When Tasers were first
introduced in 2004 they could only be used by firearms officers
in cases where using firearms was the next available option,
but in 2008 the Home Office loosened the criteria so that they
could be used in cases where:

"The authorisation
to issue firearms does not apply, but where officers are facing
violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would
need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the
subject(s) of their action."

The report also notes
that "Taser use disproportionately affects communities which
already demonstrate lower confidence in the police." Black
people make up half of those subjected to Taser deployment, and
during the period 2008 to 2011 "the proportion of Emotionally
or Mentally Distressed (EMD) people subject to Taser rose from
20 per cent to 30 per cent of the total numbers".

Nevertheless, John Tully
stated that: "We support the further rollout of Taser as
we believe it to be the best less-lethal option available - ultimately
this is all about protecting the people of London."Further
reading

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